Toure’s scrambled effort with 20 minutes left spared his and Pellegrini’s blushes as the Chilean boss was left wondering where his slick City had gone. The same trophy hunters who have bulldozed teams all season with a goal-crazy machine the envy of Europe.

Now that City have suffered a major breakdown in that department just at a time in the season when they need to be firing on all fronts. And Pellegrini, his players and the Etihad faithful are mightily worried.

There had been an air of expectancy around the stadium with Pellegrini demanding a return to City’s goal-hungry days after failing to score three times in the previous four games.

But there was no sign of menace or urgency in the early combat despite the City chief’s team talk based around starting with a high tempo.

It was all a little too flat.Too sluggish. Too laboured as if the midweek Champions League defeat by Barcelona had drained City both physically and mentally.

Pedestrian pace wasn’t in it as Stoke woke up to the realisation that this was their best ever chance to get something out of a game they weren’t expected to win.

Charlie Adam posed the threat City lacked so alarmingly as fans fed on a feast of flair football began to get restless at the substandard display.

Even when a chance presented itself, the normally clinical finishers snatched at their shots, mistimed headers to increase the frustration of the faithful deserving better than this mediocre miss-mash.

This just wasn’t the City of old who scored for fun as Stoke fans taunted the blundering Blues with chants of: “You’re worse than United.”

Pellegrini just stood in his technical area, arms folded across his padded coat. At a loss really to explain why it was all so mundane.

A performance without conviction.

Fernandinho had tried to break the deadlock with a long-range shot flipped over by keeper Asmir Begovic as early as the sixth minute.

But instead of giving City the drive and desire they normally display, Stoke took the game to them with Adam dragging his effort wide 60 seconds later.

Adam, again the danger man, delivered a left footed curler pushed away by City keeper Joe Hart, much to his and every Blue fans’ relief.

SHOWING HIS FRUSTRATION: Edin Dzeko [ACTION IMAGES]

“the long awaited breakthrough came in the 70th minute when Silva steered a pass to Aleksandar Kolarov whose cross was bundled in by Toure off Begovic for his 13th goal of the season”

Toure pressed forward on the hunt for a goal but when he found space to test Begovic the Stoke stopper was equal to the task of easily collecting his shot.

Alvaro Negredo fed Toure who in a rush of blood ballooned over as the attempted finishing became an embarrassment.

And Edin Dzeko took aim and fired low past the upright when normally he would have been deadly from that range with the half time whistle met with a stony wall of silence.

It had to get better. It couldn’t get any worse.

Don’t count on it as David Silva pulled back for Dzeko who swung a lazy boot and scooped high and wide of the target as Stoke pulled all their troops back into even deeper positions.

This was frustration with a capital “F” with Toure ripping into team-mate Pablo Zabaleta for not switching on to a through ball.

Substitute Stevan Jovetic blasted straight at Begovic who spilled the shot only for no City player to follow up much to everyone’s disgust.

But finally the long awaited breakthrough came in the 70th minute when Silva steered a pass to Aleksandar Kolarov whose cross was bundled in by Toure off Begovic for his 13th goal of the season.

It should have been two three minutes later when Toure robbed Adam and released for substitute Jesus Navas to pinpoint his pass across the face of goal.

And there was Dzeko all alone with the simplest of chances.

But he got his feet in a tangle, lost the ball when a tap in begged – and then was deadlier with an angry kick at the post.

Just summed up his and City’s day, really.

So did a move with three minutes left when Toure slipped Silva through and instead of the Spaniard slotting home he tried to find the giant midfielder again and the chance was lost.